Early Childhood (2 1/2 through 5 years)

Early Childhood classrooms are specially designed for young learners ages 2 ½ through 5.  Mixed ages in each classroom, or family groups, enhance learning experiences of younger and returning students.

In this critical stage of development, children have an unusual sensitivity and ability to absorb from their environment. They enjoy being challenged – and can concentrate for long periods of time. During this “absorbent” period, the child loves and needs purposeful work.

Children at this 2 ½ to 6 year-old period are using their senses (hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting and touching) to develop their mental, physical and psychological powers. Dr. Montessori created special “sensorial materials” to help children learn to order and classify their impressions of the physical world.

The child’s surroundings have great impact. The Sparrows, Hummingbird and Robin Classrooms are “prepared environment” with deliberate order and beauty. Walk in and you’ll see wooden shelves neatly organized with brightly colored geometric forms, puzzle maps and stacking blocks. A small sink, a cutting board and real glass dishes invite the child to explore and make choices. You’ll see children engaged in using Montessori materials, working alone or in groups of two or three. The teacher presents a lesson and then the child are free to practice and ultimately master the skill. It is here that children discover the satisfaction and joy of accomplishing for themselves.

Children sense the room’s order and move carefully through it. They are developing coordination and a respect for the environment – while learning to care for themselves and others. The primary level classroom provides the basis for reading, writing, mathematics, geography, biology and the arts.

In keeping with the Montessori model the classrooms are comprised of multiple ages, so that each child’s environment includes peers spanning three years of age. Children remain with the same teacher throughout those three years creating an unmatchable teacher-child relationship. We are able to learn about each child individually and recognize strengths, needs and individual learning style during this three year span.

Multi-age grouping also builds a strong community within the classroom as the children have the ability to learn from each other and then become leaders of the group. Children develop self-discipline during their stay in one of our classrooms through the idea of freedom within limits. They are able to choose purposeful work at their individual developmental stage and work at their own pace. Montessori materials are made to be self correcting which empowers the child to master the material on their own, creating a sense of joy and excitement in learning.

Our carefully prepared, mixed-age classrooms contain the many materials scientifically developed by Dr. Maria Montessori. The children have the opportunity to work with these materials in the areas of practical life, sensory exploration, language development, mathematical understanding, geography, botany, music and art.

The teacher guides the children’s work, and allows them to move forward at their own pace. The students become self-confident, enthusiastic and joyful learners with remarkable focus and concentration. Our classrooms offer plenty of opportunities for social interaction and children learn to cooperate and respect each other.

The Montessori classroom environment and activities are carefully arranged in the following areas:

PRACTICAL LIFE

Practical life exercises include many tasks of daily life, such as washing dishes, flower arranging, and learning to button and snap. Other exercises are specifically intended to foster “grace and courtesy, ” through which children develop poise, coordination and self-confidence. They experience the joy of “I can do it myself.”

SENSORIAL

Sensorial materials involve training and developing children’s sense of touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste. By practicing, children sharpen their ability to differentiate between various shapes, sounds, smells, colors, textures and tastes. The result is accentuated awareness of the physical environment and heightened powers of observation that are highly useful for future academic explorations.

LANGUAGE

Montessori builds on children’s remarkable natural capacity for language development. Students are exposed to rich language in all areas of the classroom. A phonetic approach leads to reading words, phrases and sentences, and ultimately to reading books. Children are also exposed to the mechanics of cursive writing, parts of speech and grammatical concepts.

CULTURAL SUBJECTS

Cultural subjects, such as geography, history, biology, botany, zoology, art and music are an important part of the Montessori classroom. Children use the Montessori materials to gain understanding and appreciation of the world around them.

MATHEMATICS

Work with the Montessori math materials ranges from simply learning to count and recognize numerals to hands-on work with the decimal system and hierarchies of numbers (units, tens, hundreds, thousands, etc.). By working with these lessons, children also learn the process of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Concrete materials help the children develop a deep level of understanding of mathematical concepts.